Movie review: Adam Sandler is a revelation in 'Meyerowitz Stories'

Thursday

Oct 12, 2017 at 12:14 PMOct 15, 2017 at 12:03 PM

By Al Alexander/For The Patriot Ledger

Many, including me, have taken a perverse joy in kicking Adam Sandler to the curb. But it’s Sandler who gets the last – and best – laugh by punching us in the schadenfreude with a career-best performance in the “The Meyerowitz Stories (New and Selected).” The only thing better than him is the movie itself, a dark, cerebral comedy written and directed by Noah Baumbach, who out Woody Allens Woody Allen with an acerbic, yet tender story of three neurotic siblings crippled by guilt and self-loathing.

The source of their angst is their narcissistic, sculptor father, Harold, a septuagenarian who embraces his bitterness like Bill Clinton embraces naive interns. And with good reason; it’s all he has left to hold unto after a life filled with failure and disappointment as a teacher and an artist. In other words, he’s the classic Baumbach character who blames everyone but himself for his broken life. It’s a role that fits Dustin Hoffman so snuggly you completely forget that it’s Tootsie behind that thick Santa beard and matted gray hair. And even though he looks harmless, don’t expect to warm to Harold. If you know Baumbach you know that’s by design, as he sets out to expose the damage the coot has inflicted on his daughter, Jean (Elizabeth Marvel), and sons, Danny (Sandler) and Matthew (Ben Stiller) for decades.

Now it’s all about to come to a head, as Dad, the kids and their new younger, drunker stepmother, Maureen (Emma Thompson, sensational), converge on the family homestead in Pittsfield, Mass., to bury hatchets and jab a dagger or two into long festering wounds. Think of it as a quasi-sequel to Baumbach’s “The Squid and the Whale,” which showed a family sowing the seeds of dysfunction, as opposed to “Meyerowitz,” which reveals the destructive aftermath harvested from years of ensuing neglect and indifference. Baumbach is also more forgiving of his characters this time, allowing them to discover their foibles, and more importantly, grudgingly act upon them.

Although divided into a half-dozen chapters that focus on the Meyerowitzes individually and as a family, the film – which debuts today in theaters and on Netflix – never feels disjointed or rambling. Rather, it fits together as snugly as a box of LEGO bricks. Baumbach also takes care to generously provide his actors – which also include Grace Van Patten as Danny’s budding-filmmaker daughter and Candice Bergen as Matthew’s biological mother and Jean and Danny’s “evil” stepmom – an opportunity to move to the fore and shine. And not a one of them wastes the chance.

It’s Sandler, though, who’s been entrusted with the lead role of Danny, Harold’s divorced, unemployed eldest son who we meet in the opening scenes as he and Van Patten’s Eliza feverishly search for a parking spot in Lower Manhattan. Not only does the scene serve as perfect metaphor for a man who’s spent his entire life looking for a place to fit in, it also allows Sandler to tap into the rage fighting to escape Danny’s timid shell. Moments later comes the movie’s most touching scene in which Sandler and Van Patten (in a breakout turn) sit down at a piano to sing and play a (Sandler-Baumbach penned) duet sure to surprise you with the depth of emotion it brings out in Sandler.

The song, a happy ditty which father and daughter have sung together since Eliza was a child, suddenly takes on an air of melancholy and sadness because it’s probably the last time they’ll ever perform it, as the girl heads off to college and – soon – adulthood. And there beats the movie’s heart, as Baumbach vividly illustrates how precious little time parents have with their children before they suddenly grow up and go off on their own. That leaves a mighty thin window to instill your values in them and make sure they grow up to be better people than you.

What interests Baumbach, revealing a previously unseen sentimental side, is how we choose to use those fleeting days and hours. Will it be wasted time, like it was for Harold, who was always focused only on his art? Or, will it be like Danny, whose life has been a failure in every way except in how well he has raised Eliza? And in between the cracks, Baumbach even manages to squeeze in how a step-sibling, like Stiller’s Matthew, a hugely successful accountant to the stars, turns out so much different than his older brother and sister. Or, has he? If I’m making this sound too deep, let me assure you it’s not. Mostly, “The Meyerowitz Stories” is brisk and breezy, with an Oscar-worthy turn by Sandler and great supporting work by Stiller. It’s amazing how these two slapstick comedians can be so convincing in a handful of dramatic scenes that can occasionally turn hilarious at the thrust of a fist to the solar plexus. Which is apropos since “Meyerowitz” hits you like a punch to the gut. Like they say, love hurts, and in Baumbach’s capable hands, you can feel the sting right down to your funny bone.